Original documents of the Doctrine and Covenants are few and far between, but remaining copies of those documents offer valuable insights into the record keeping of the early Church.
E. Dennis Rowley, curator of archives and manuscripts at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU where thousands of early records are housed, said these documents survived because of the care afforded by early members."The copies we have are really in good shape, and are not difficult to read, except in a few spots," said Rowley. "All of the 1830-1850 records are on good paper. Documents from that time prove they do last."
He said that, evidently, original copies of the revelations were discarded after the first issue of the Book of Commandments was published in 1833, and the larger Doctrine and Covenants in 1835.
However, before these printings, associates of the Prophet Joseph Smith probably copied the revelations for their own use.
"One of the early apostates, Ezra Booth, quoted extensively from the revelations in 1831. Did Booth have copies of the revelations? We don't know. My guess is that he did have access to the sections. It suggests to me that access was available to those who were close to the Prophet."
Archivists do know, however, that those who copied the revelations did so with great care and accuracy.
"You just can't preserve a culture at 90 miles an hour," he said. "Today we just don't preserve for the ages. My advice is that in writing journals and dealing with historical matters, we don't succumb to the tendency of our age to hurry up.
"These people moved slowly and left wonderful records."